page last updated 12-20-2018

IF 160 Sunflower Lane Watsonville, CA 95076 Phone: 831-724-4108

About IF

IF is a nonprofit humanitarian, educational and social change organization located in the Santa Cruz, CA, area. We are a community of friends seeking hopeful alternatives to the violence, greed and destructiveness of our world. Read more about IF's history and mission

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Updates on some of IF's supported projects

IF continues to support the courageous work of Pietro Ameglio in Mexico and beyond. IF's support has been integral to Pietro being able to devote himself to nonviolence education and organizing. Pietro is one of the most important nonviolent activists in Latin America today in the specific sense of promoting both the study and the practice of active nonviolence. He has a sophisticated knowledge of nonviolence theory and history, and he combines that with a deep commitment to social justice and decades of front-line experience in nonviolent action. He is an inspiring and popular peace educator who walks his talk, who educates in formal settings as well as on picket lines and at mass actions. Below is his most recent update.

Mexico: Update from Pietro Ameglio

Cuernavaca, December 12, 2018Dear friends of IF, I send you warm regards and my best wishes that this year has been one of positive experiences for you, your families and your friends. I am writing you on this day that is so significant in Mexico, the feast day of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It is the greatest feast day in a country that, before it is Mexican, is Guadalupen. Fr. Donald Hessler, the Maryknoll missionary who did so much to introduce the idea of nonviolence in Mexico during the 1970s and who taught us so much, used to tell us how the true message of Mary of Guadalupe to the Indian Juan Diego, who was oppressed by the Spanish, was kept hidden for so long, but that it was recorded in the Nican Mopohua, a book written by indigenous Nahuatl in their language during the 16th Century [ED: the date of the apparition is 1531]. The message resonates profoundly with the Gospel and the liberation of the oppressed. The Virgin never speaks with the bishop. She only speaks with great tenderness and firmness with the enslaved Indian who is charged with being a messenger to the religious authority.Fr. Donald always insisted that what Mary asked of Juan Diego were the two virtues of nonviolence: humility and audacity.

I think that these two values are important for understanding what has happened this past year with the presidential election in Mexico, as well as with our personal and collective work, of which you are an important part because of your support and confidence. The evening of the July 1 elections was very special for millions of people in this country. Nobody can take away from us that moment of feeling that the powerful had suffered a “partial defeat.” We knew that that next day they would begin to negotiate, to try to corral, to threaten the new government so that could carry on their business behind the backs of the people. But that night the people defeated them. Over the years, we have been involved in many struggles against the powerful, and we do not regret undertaking them. But it is also true that many times it has been the powerful that have given us “partial defeats,” achieving their objectives while abusing human rights, justice, and environmental protection. The triumph of the new president, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, with more than 30 million votes and unprecedented majorities in both houses of Congress, was a massive nonviolent action of the people who were fed up with so much corruption and an economic model that makes us increasingly poor and less in control of the natural resources of the country. It was a hard blow, somewhat unexpected, for the political and economic elite. There are some people coming in with the new administration who have a history of honesty and service to the people. They are bringing with them initiatives to improve distribution of government spending to benefit the people, to put the brakes on the corruption and impunity, and to promote peace in the country. But there are plenty of contradictions, imposed by outside forces, as well. A Truth Commission is to be established to investigate the genocidal killing of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa in 2014 at the same time as a new National Guard, in the form of militarized police, is to be created. There is talk about support for youth, vulnerable populations and indigenous while at the same time they proceed with plans for large-scale infrastructure and extractive industry projects in the Southeast that represent a direct threat to peasant and indigenous communities. From a nonviolence perspective, for this political change in Mexico to be a true hope with real change for the people and not just illusions and empty words, it is critical that civil society exercises its power and social control over the authorities and their allies, obliging them, as the Zapatistas say, to “rule by obeying” the people.One of the main social actors in this process of change is the families of the disappeared (more than 40,000 people have gone missing in Mexico), of the murdered (more than 250,000 in 10 years), and of those who have been forcefully displaced by the war (hundreds of thousands in the country). A key indicator will be whether the families are listented to in policy making and whether the disappeared are found. Currently we are participating in preparations for the IV Search Caravan for Disappeared Persons which will take place in Guerrero in January (for which your financial support is being very helpful). [ED: These caravans have uncovered large numbers of clandestine mass graves across Mexico.] Another key actor in determining the potential for change is the youth of the country. We have the privilege of working with and learning from many of them and their groups on issues of nonviolence and peacebuilding. A huge student movement exploded at the UNAM (National Autonomous University) in September and lasted a couple of months. It was provoked by an armed attack on students on campus in the middle of the day by thugs whose objective was to destabilize the university. In response, tens of thousands of youth filled the streets with the demand: “No more violence at the universities!”There were student strikes at a number of universities, governed by popular assemblies of the students. As a result there were changes in university regulations and security practices. This movement was very important in a country where so many church, university, artistic and intellectual leaders have kept quiet instead of protesting in public spaces against the violence and the complicity of the authorities. A number of the youth who have worked with us for years, leading workshops and organizing nonviolent actions, were among the student leaders of the protests. This social movement gave them the opportunity to apply what they have learned about theory and practice and to be active participants in the reflection and planning process in order to choose the best forms of nonviolent struggle for achieving peace on the university campuses. We also did a social science research project, based on student surveys, on the main incidents of violence at one of the schools within the university. With this objective data, we demanded that the department directors take immediate action to reduce the violence. This sort of training is very important for the youth. Being able to marshal scientific data is a powerful tool in nonviolence. It was important for me to observe how simple efforts over years could all of a sudden flourish and have such a strong influence on a national mobilization as big and important as the recent student movement. It is a bit like the Gospel. One plants seeds without knowing when the fruit will be harvested or by whom. I have always believed that critical reflection, social science research and nonviolent direct action are different sides of the same coin and are all indispensable. The student mobilization was followed by many actions in support of the Migrant Caravan from Central America to the U.S. that evoked so much solidarity around the country. Beyond the origin and particular form of the Caravan and how it played out in the political process in the U.S., the Caravan showed itself to be a legitimate form of nonviolent action by people who are overwhelmed by violence and economic misery and who, instead of falling into the violence all around them, decided to walk (like Gandhi, the Zapatistas and so many others) and to suffer in order to express their determination to seek justice and peace. The migrants too are peacebuilders. I have just returned from a visit to the Gujarat Vidyapyth university, founded by Gandhi in Ahmedabad, India in 1920. I was there for an international conference of activists and academics focused on peace and nonviolence. I had been invited to share our Latin American experiences in these areas with the English speaking world (U.S., Europe, Asia, Oceana, and Africa) with whom, because of the language difference and other factors, it is difficult to have exchanges. We believe that we bring original experiences that can be helpful for struggles elsewhere, and viceversa. My presentation on 30 years of personal and collective experience was entitled “Disobedient Peace.” In it I reflected on how we can construct subjects capable of“disobeying inhuman and unjust orders” that we are given. This process is at the center of all that we do. I think it is both an idea and a lived experience that can be helpful in any part of the world. It was gratifying to share the experience in India with three of my students who are specializing in Gandhian Studies at the Gandhian university. Each year we try to send students there to learn and to deepen their personal commitment. It is something of a mystery how we manage to do it, because they don’t have the necessary financial resources, but they work hard and they find them. They all come back changed and feeling more committed. The Rector of the university invited us to teach a one-month course next year, sharing experiences of nonviolence and Gandhian culture from Mexico and Latin America as a way of broadening and updating the dissemination of Gandhian nonviolence. It is a challenging offer, and I don’t know if I will have the energy to do it, but it is a way of supporting this culture that unites us. Very well; I won’t go on any longer. With a grateful heart for this sharing of life and spirit that has brought us together, I send you my best wishes for a Christmas full of peace, joy, and hope for you and your loved ones.Affectionately!PietroRead more on Pietro's activities in Mexico.

Mexico: Update on Sergio Castro/Yok Chij For over 45 years Sergio Castro (Yok Chij) has been working within the indigenous Mayan communities and marginalized Mexicans of San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, one of the poorest states of Mexico. Don Sergio spends most of his time providing medical and wound care to burn victims, and, with increasing frequency, patients suffering from the effects of type 2 diabetic complications. ​ For calendar year 2017, Don Sergio provides 120-160 patients visits per week, which equates to around 7,800 patient visits per year. Don Sergio does not charge any fees. This healthcare is costly due to non-reusable wound care dressing supplies and daily or every 2 - 3 day visits depending on type and severity of wound and co-morbidities. He is a “one-man-wound-care clinic” and is always moving, hence the name ‘yok chij’, Maya language, Tzotzil for ‘deer foot’, because he’s always moving. Don Sergio's project activities are regularly updated on his blog by Patricia Ferrer, who has worked with him for nine years, @ http://sergiocastrosc.blogspot.mxDONATE to SERGIO CASTRO & YOK CHIJ.

July 2018 Update This July Bill Hill and Penny Rich, two former members of the IF Board, made a trip to visit Sergio Castro and Yok Chij in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. Accompanied by our grandchild, Rafaela, a recent high school graduate, we brought 70 pounds of much needed medical supplies to donate to Sergio’s clinic. We also brought an equal weight of school supplies for Sergio to distribute to schools that he has helped construct and renovate.​ We coordinated our visit with the annual visit of Patricia Ferrer, who has been IF’s contact for Yok Chij in the U.S.Patricia, who has worked with Sergio for over 10 years, also brought medical supplies to donate to Sergio’s clinic. She was accompanied by her pre-med nephew Ethan, Deborah, who is a wound expert, and Alejandra, who volunteers at Patricia’s clinic in Tucson. All assisted Sergio in providing primary care and wound care to his patients.

Patricia assists Sergio in their treatment of a 90 year old patient with wounds to his feet

On the first day of the visit, we were invited to attend a graduation ceremony at Escuela Primaria Bilingue, a

school that Sergio has built. It was a wonderful ceremony to witness and the importance of this day to the graduates and their families was quite evident. Students of many grade levels participated in entertaining with traditional dances and speeches. This school teaches in Tzotzil, an indigenous Maya language, and Spanish. It serves approximately 300 children.

Sergio Castro congratulates parents and students on their graduation at Escuela Primaria Bilingue.

Last year IF facilitated a donation to purchase and install a solar system for the school. Now the school has electricity and a water pump, meals can be cooked without burning wood or paying for natural gas, and the school does not have to rely on costly grid electricity. On another day of our visit, we accompanied Sergio and Patricia’s team on home visits to patients in the city and in the outlying communities.Often these patients were too ill or injured to get to the clinic. We also visited Sergio’s clinic in the late afternoon on a number of days. There was a steady stream of patients to be attended to, with ailments that varied from minor to those suffering from extensive diabetic- or vascular-induced wounds.​read more about Don Sergio's work in Chiapas, Mexico